Feminist Analysis

For discussion of Tomas Alfredson's Film Låt den rätte komma in
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Dragonclaws
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Re: Feminist Analysis

Post by Dragonclaws » Sun Feb 13, 2011 1:53 am

crazychristina wrote:I've just been pondering problem solving strategies, and the influence a little known work called How to Solve It by G Polya has had on my professional life. One piece of advice he offers is that if a problem is too complex to solve, solve a simpler one first. So, to put this in context, is LTROI a chick flick?
It's kind of hard to classify, but I'd say no. It's a relationship drama but in a horror setting, something like Pan's Labyrinth. I'd say it's in a general category.
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Re: Feminist Analysis

Post by rgh » Sun Feb 13, 2011 1:56 am

So, to put this in context, is LTROI a chick flick?
Interesting question, especially considering the high number of male members here. (I know we don't have an official count, it does seem to be male heavy here)

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Re: Feminist Analysis

Post by crazychristina » Sun Feb 13, 2011 2:02 am

rgh wrote:
So, to put this in context, is LTROI a chick flick?
Interesting question, especially considering the high number of male members here. (I know we don't have an official count, it does seem to be male heavy here)
Yes, but most member seem to see the relationship element as the most important. Not the action, horror, crime, etc. This is not typical of male viewing preferences. Unless of course one sees it as a revenge movie.

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Re: Feminist Analysis

Post by PeteMork » Sun Feb 13, 2011 3:07 am

crazychristina wrote:
rgh wrote:
So, to put this in context, is LTROI a chick flick?
Interesting question, especially considering the high number of male members here. (I know we don't have an official count, it does seem to be male heavy here)
Yes, but most member seem to see the relationship element as the most important. Not the action, horror, crime, etc. This is not typical of male viewing preferences. Unless of course one sees it as a revenge movie.
Perhaps a preponderance of fathers, father wanna-be's, or father-figures? :think: :think:
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Re: Feminist Analysis

Post by lombano » Sun Feb 13, 2011 3:40 am

Dragonclaws wrote: She doesn't do very much as a character even if the character does move the plot along.
True, but that could be said of any of the adults in the film.
rgh wrote:
So, to put this in context, is LTROI a chick flick?
Interesting question, especially considering the high number of male members here. (I know we don't have an official count, it does seem to be male heavy here)
Given that, very unusually for a romantic film, it seems to have a majority male fanbase, I think it cannot be labelled a chick flick.
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Re: Feminist Analysis

Post by Ka Faraq Gatri » Sun Feb 13, 2011 3:44 am

i originally watched the movie because it is a vampire movie.

i relate to the movie cos i could see myself in Oskars shoes when i was 12, my childhood was a bit screwed up and i'm on anti-depressants and most likely need therapy of some kind.

the film and then the book both opened feelings i had suppressed for years and for that i admire JAL greatly. Let The Healing In, so to speak.

i am also a father of 2, dad of 3. i don't think parenting comes into it much though i do see a slight physical resemblance between my youngest daughter and Lina.

also i think some men are more romantic than they give themselves credit for.
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Re: Feminist Analysis

Post by bore » Sun Feb 13, 2011 4:52 am

crazychristina wrote:Yes, but most member seem to see the relationship element as the most important. Not the action, horror, crime, etc. This is not typical of male viewing preferences. Unless of course one sees it as a revenge movie.
Action yes, but horror and crime? Perhaps it is stereotypically male, but from my experience it is not typical. From my experience it is women that gets hooked on horror and crime.

OK, this is the fourth time I rewrite this post. I think I have passed a several hundred words by far but it all became an incoherent rant.
What I wanted to say is that I as a male do not agree with your post. I can not really put together a good answer but in the end it all ends up the same way. Regardless of what genre a movie is there is a single thing that separates good movies from bad ones and that is all about the emotions they invoke in you.
The relationship element of LtROI is an important part of what invokes emotions, but this part can exist well in any kind of movie.
If I were to take one of the action movies I like the most (Conan the Barbarian) and ask one hundred males what scene in it they liked the most I don't think I will find a single person that won't tell me that it is the scene where Conans mother gets beheaded. It has nothing to do about the action part and everyting to do with emotions.
Another movie that males tend to like is Edward Scissorhands, please don't tell my that you think that that movie isn't about loneliness and relationship.

OK, I wrote a bit more here but decided to cut it out because I was really leaving the subject. I am neither an expert in movie analysis nor relationships but really, many typical chick-flicks do not even try to have a character that males can relate to in any way. (Just like many action flicks do not have a relatable female character. (Yay! A double parentheses to list movies like Batman, Spiderman or any other marvel-movie.))
LtROI works for males because it has a character that males can relate to. (Note that the character itself does not need to be male. I do not think I would have any trouble to relate to for example Lina Mayfleet in City of Embers and I think that everyone tend to relate more to Sarah Connor in The Terminator than they relate to Kyle Reese)
Oskar may be odd and he may very well be on his path to be a serial killer but it is still a lot easier for the viewers to relate to him than it is for him to relate to others. (Not entirely true, but I liked that sentence enough to keep it there.)

I wrote more down here but I decided to cut that part out aswell, on a second reading it wasn't really anyting more than trolling.
When it comes to mindless entertainment the movies that males enjoy may be very well fit into what you say is typical of male viewing preferences but when it comes to movies that males really like they might be very different from your typical chick-flick but to say that they are devoid of relationship issues or to imply that they don't deal with strong emotions is simply wrong.
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

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Re: Feminist Analysis

Post by Dragonclaws » Sun Feb 13, 2011 6:21 am

I think the anime movie Spirited Away is a good comparison to LTROI insofar as the romance and having a male-centric fanbase. It's got the same sort of slow-paced oddly realistic relationship despite fantastic circumstances, and it involves a kid and a kid-looking character who is actually way older. It has the audience identifying with the girl because the girl is the protagonist, which I think is true for a lot of stories; the protagonist is the relateable one. The main difference is that Spirited Away is a children's film that adults can appreciate, whereas LTROI is a film for adults about children.
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Re: Feminist Analysis

Post by gattoparde59 » Sun Feb 13, 2011 12:36 pm

bore wrote:I wrote more down here but I decided to cut that part out aswell, on a second reading it wasn't really anyting more than trolling.
When it comes to mindless entertainment the movies that males enjoy may be very well fit into what you say is typical of male viewing preferences but when it comes to movies that males really like they might be very different from your typical chick-flick but to say that they are devoid of relationship issues or to imply that they don't deal with strong emotions is simply wrong.
Now that is a really interesting point and I am going to take up your argument. I'll use some examples of typical "guy" movies.

Cowboy movies:

The typical guy movie genre back in the day. If you look at John Ford's westerns, they are really not about action or even "western" landscapes. They are built around relationships, especially relationships in a family. In the Searchers, the Ethan character played by John Wayne is a really brutal, unpleasant character, the male role model. And yet the movie shows us that Ethan really does love the other characters in the story and that is what makes John Wayne's performance memorable. Ethan sees his role as the person who deals with all the nasty things in life so that other characters don't have to. All the same, Ethan has feelings too. :(

War movies:

I think of the typical war movie as a soap opera for men. These characters are being set up for tragedy. They form these really intense relationships with people that have a high likely hood of being killed. If you have seen The Hurt Locker, think about the bomb expert's relationship with the street urchin and how that plays out. Watch the ending of Gallipoli. :(

I almost always cry watching war movies, at least if they are well made.

I'll break open the story and tell you what is there. Then, like the others that have fallen out onto the sand, I will finish with it, and the wind will take it away.

Nisa

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Dragonclaws
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Re: Feminist Analysis

Post by Dragonclaws » Sun Feb 13, 2011 6:00 pm

According to Wikipedia, the counterpart to the chick flick is the guy-cry film. "The Oregonian compilied a list of "films that make men cry", that includes Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, and The Passion of the Christ, among many others." That sounds like what's being discussed here. I wouldn't categorize LTROI as that, though.
"The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems." --River, Firefly

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